Because Roses Are Not Always Red
by DarkLux
Summary: AU. A series of one-shots that picture Hatake Kakashi as a mute. Rating may change.
1. When the Eagle Lands

I don't know if this is good or bad or what, but here you go. I hope you will like it.

Disclaimer, as always, in my profile.

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**When the Eagle Lands**

_Five years old_

When Kakashi was still very young, Minato would often tease the little boy. The silver-haired child was serious about training, but often showed a silent fascination with many other things the blond did, such as reading or simply going to the movies. But when the eighteen-year-old asked him a question that required more than a shake or nod of the head, Kakashi would simply stare at him before lowering his eyes to the ground, and the conversation would immediately stop.

'He's just a mute.' Minato would say to his fellow jounin. It was meant to be a joke, a simple excuse to protect his little student from the harsh comments that seemed to follow the genin around.

He often caught Jirayia-sensei's odd looks after this particular comment, but he never did ask why, he simply shrugged it off as one of the many things the older man found weird about him.

That was, of course, before the one time he made the comment in front of Kakashi.

A chuunin had been throwing the boy dirty glances, having asked a question that had gone unanswered by the child, and Minato was quick to use his trump card "Oh, stop it, Hiro, he can't answer any question like that. He's a mute, you know?" and then a very idiotic, brash comment flowed from his lips. "You just have to pretend he's stupid, see. Don't ask him any hard questions."

The newly-turned-adult thought Kakashi would frown or pout and for the first time yell at him for insulting him, perhaps even kick him. But the only sound that followed was the crash of metal to concrete. The blond spun around, only to see his genin had dropped the pot they were supposed to retrieve for the D-ranked mission.

He was about to chastise the boy when he noticed those suddenly big, dark grey eyes filling with tears. The boy's mouth, he could see even behind the mask his student wore, was quivering just as violently as his tiny clenching-and-unclenching fists.

And then the kid broke and the diminutive hands flew to cover the falling tears that were now cascading down his cheeks. The small body shook with silent sobs and Minato could only say those were the most awkward, dumbest moments of his entire life.

Hiro having disappeared, the jounin kneeled down in front of his student, completely mesmerized by the silently weeping five-year-old. He had no idea people could actually _do _that!

"Hey, it's okay, Kakashi-kun," He said, picking up the empty pot to check over it. "See, it's not even the least bit damaged, it's not like you failed the mission."

When the silent crying didn't stop, the blond frowned slightly, worried. He reached out, pulling the dark cloth away from Kakashi's face to attempt to clean the tears, and froze.

The small child had his mouth open, but only silent screams were being liberated from the boy's throat.

Kakashi was a mute.

Kakashi was a _mute_.

Kakashi _was_ a mute.

'_Shit.' _Minato lost no time in collecting his hurt, distressed student into his arms, rocking him gently and caressing the oddly colored hair the child possessed. "I'm _so_ sorry, Kakashi, I didn't know. I had _no_ idea." But he knew he had messed up, and he felt his heart fall to the pit of his stomach at the knowledge he had just not only doubted but also deeply offended the small figure he now held in his arms. He was an _ass_. "I'm such an idiot! Please forgive me Kakashi, I didn't mean it. You're not stupid. You're the smartest person I know."

He tried a lot more apologies and reassurances, but the trembling did not subside, and Minato soon found himself running to the only place he could think off. Sensei's house. Because only the two of them were the people Kakashi had trusted, which only made him feel worse.

The blond's fist rapped at the wooden door as he yelled desperately for the older man to come out. To come and help because he was the worst person in the face of the Earth and not only him but Kakashi needed him.

The toad expert opened his door with a groggy look, sighing "This better be important, you bra—" but the sight in front of him made him stop mid-sentence.

He practically hauled the pair inside, quickly plucking the child out of Minato's arms and pressing him against his own chest, big arms almost completely hiding him from the blond's view.

"What happened?" The older male whispered harshly before switching to a much calmer, gentler tone to shush the silver haired child.

Minato explained everything between pants and cries of despair and begs of forgiveness until his sensei stopped him by placing a large hand on his chest, then moving it to his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

The oldest male then gave a pointed look towards the tiny five-year-old, and the blond couldn't resist looking over at the effects of his faults. Kakashi, face flushed, had his head fully leaned on Jirayia's broad chest, hands clutching the dark-blue robes, but was looking right at Minato. Deep breaths barely racked the boy's body now.

"You're still young yourself, Minato-kun. But you know better now."

The blond nodded and looked at the little mute once more. "I-I-I'm r-really sorry, little man. I didn't mean it at all. I… I didn't know, and I know I was still an a—a jerk." He hesitated, looking at his bare feet for a second before raising his gaze again "Y-you can choose my punishment, yeah? Will you forgive me?"

Kakashi's response was to reach out to him with one arm, an opportunity Minato didn't pass up on and was quick to grab the boy from his sides and lift him from his sensei's arms, holding the child to his own chest fiercely.

The blond waited a few seconds, then held the boy at arm length, much to the confusion of the poor kid, who let out a silent gasp at the brusque movement. Minato regarded the boy sternly. "If you're ever in trouble, throw a kunai with a red ribbon tied to it." He allowed the words to sink in, then smiled gently and pressed the boy to his chest again. "I'll be right there, okay?"

After a few minutes of blissful silence, the Sannin in the room couldn't take any more of the cheesiness and proceeded to shove the pair out of his home. As he did so, Minato finally noticed when the man was actually _wearing,_ and made a disgusted face at his sensei before running, Kakashi still in his arms, to the boy's favorite restaurant.

That was the first and last time Kakashi cried over the topic.

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I don't know what the pairings can be for this, so... I'll just let you guys decide. They are different one-shots, after all. Though I won't accept all pairings, I'm willing to accept some, as long as I can find a way to accomodate them.

Oh! And I'm also accepting ideas of things that you want to see happen that I can develop =)


	2. How I See You

Hey there! Thanks a lot to Prescripto13 who reviewed.

Here's second of the series.

This one is only Kakashi and Minato.

...Don't get used to the fast updates, I don't know how this happened.

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**How I See You**

_six years old_

It was during the rest period between the first and second phase of his chuunin exam when Kakashi first had Minato come to him, attempting to practice his sign-language. _Why_ the man had wanted to practice such a thing was beyond him, since he could hear perfectly well and he knew the blond was aware of that.

Still, Kakashi corrected the man's hands for two hours straight before asking him what it was he wanted to accomplish.

Minato's response was sheepish but simple. It would make it much easier for Kakashi to talk to him if he actually learned this and didn't have to rely on a piece of paper to understand his student's thoughts and feelings.

The boy, of course, thought that was completely moronic, but shrugged and motioned for his teacher to continue.

After the sixtieth time the blond confused the signs he was teaching him, thus insisting his 'mother was a hippo' rather than saying his 'mother's meals were the best', Kakashi settled for something simpler. He held his hands in the universal 'stop' sign, saving Minato from yet more ridicule, and took the pen and the piece of paper he had been using when the man fundamentally failed to comprehend him.

'This'll be your personal sign' He wrote, then looked up at the cerulean eyes to see if the apparently thick prodigy was following.

"What's a personal sign?" The blond asked, bewildered but seemingly interested as he leaned forward in his seat.

The six-year-old fought the urge to roll his eyes. 'It's a sort of nickname I give you. It's easier than to spell a name out, and more personal as well.'

The blond's eyes widened for a second, but immediately smiled and nodded, telling him to go on and show him.

Kakashi then pointed at the man. _'It's you I'm talking about, I'm going to start now.'_ then used his right hand to draw a simple M near his chest, and lifted his hand over his head. He made a flat-O shape with his fingers and thumb, fingertips pointing down; then drew a clockwise circle in the air, and finally opened his fingers, his palm facing the floor. The soon-to-be chuunin lowered his hand to the table, finished. He moved uncomfortably in his seat when his teacher simply stared at him.

The older male looked utterly fascinated, however. "What does it mean?"

Kakashi once again grabbed the pen and wrote 'That's an M for Minato, and then the sign for SUN.' He wrote it like that, all in capital letters just like he did every time he was referring to a specific object.

"Oh." Minato muttered, then his face broke into a grin. "Well, thanks!"

The boy nodded and began collecting all of his things so they could finish the mortifying lesson once and for all—not that he thought his teacher would give in that easily, no, the man would surely ask to resume his lessons another day, because he was stubborn like that—only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Can I give you one, too?"

Kakashi regarded the man with an expression of mild worry, fearing the horror that could be produced of such a liberty when the blond obviously didn't know the first thing about the language. The hopeful gaze was too much, however, so the child nodded.

Dark-grey eyes observed as Minato made a drew a K in the air—completely backwards, but that was beside the point—then extended both of his hands in front of him, right on top of the left, completely flat and palms down; this was followed by the fingertips of the man's right hand sliding from the fingertips to the wrist of his left hand.

The blond halted when he noticed the boy's widened eyes. "I… I was trying to sign 'gentle', was I wrong?" But then Kakashi's eyes widened even more as he shook his head. "Then…" Minato stopped, frowning in confusion. "Well, little man, I happen to think you're pretty gentle."

And so the boy nodded, opened his book again and decided he could endure a little more of the torture that was teaching his sensei. If the eighteen-year-old was patient enough to teach him and still have a positive view of his person, then the least he could do was try to do the same.

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There you go.

The first three one-shots will be in chronological order, then they will start to jump all over the place. (You'll know which ones goes before or later with Kakashi's age tag at the beginning of the chapter.

Minato signed the K backwards because he did it like he was readng the letter instead of the person in front of him.

For this, I used the American Sign Language. It took me along whle bcause there are like five ways to sign these words... I think I settled for the baby one, and I don't know if they are correct. If they're not, please tell me? Pretty please?


	3. I'm Not Like Them

Why do I keep updating this?!  
What sorcery is this?

This is you, reviewers, isn't it?! **Prescripto13** and **Copeland** have landed a spell on me that makes me focus on this instead of writing my History essay and study for Statistics!

...No, seriously, this usually doesn't happen, what's going on?

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**I'm Not Like Them**

_Eight years old_

He did his best not to frown when the blond told him they would 'finally' meet their 'precious' teammates, which would eventually lead to a 'cute, ever-lasting and perfect' friendship. Firstly because every time he frowned the man would insist he was pouting—which he was most definitely _not_—, and secondly because Minato was downright jumping for joy about the whole situation.

Kakashi, on his part, didn't get it. He was a chuunin and _did not_ need more teammates. He and Minato could and had taken on every other mission on their own without problems, and two genin would only slacken and thwart their team dynamics.

Keeping these thoughts to himself, the short, silver-haired shinobi allowed himself to be pulled by Minato to the classroom where several boys and girls around Kakashi's age, some a little older, were waiting. The blond grinned at everyone, making no attempt to correct his chuunin's sour look.

"Team 12, meet me in the big tree out of here!" And then the jounin ignored Kakashi's flails as he picked the boy up and disappeared from the classroom in a whirl of leaves. When they got to where they were supposed to wait, cheerful cobalt blue eyes met annoyed onyx ones. "What?"

That only served to increase the intensity of the boy's glare. Kakashi then plopped down on the grass, followed closely by a baffled Minato, who kept looking over at him waiting for an explanation until the reminder members of their new team arrived and both excitedly and nervously settled themselves across from the other two.

The four stared at each other for a minute until the little girl—and Minato would forever love her for it— smiled kindly at the oldest male.

"Are you doing okay, sensei?"

The blond returned the smile while Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm doing pretty good, actually." Then the finally remembered what it was he was supposed to do, and cleared his throat, confidence regained. "My name is Namikaze Minato, I'm twenty-two years old, I enjoy reading and the thing I want to do in the future is become Hokage so that I can watch over all of the people in the village." He took a fleeting look at Kakashi, but seeing the boy made no effort to try and introduce himself, the blond turned to the girl. "Your turn."

She brightened immediately, her hand moving to take her brown hair out of her eyes. "I'm Nohara Rin, I turned nine a week ago…uhm…" she stopped, looking indecisive about her next words "I really like flowers a lot! Especially during the spring because there are so many different colors, and my dream is to become a medic and keep the people I like safe."

Minato smiled gently at her. It was a very nice dream to have, but with war approaching he could only hope the circumstances wouldn't dampen her spirits. He motioned to the black-haired boy with his chin. "You."

To the blond's surprise, the kid actually stood up, a grin plastered on his face. And began talking at such a volume he was sure he had seen both other children cringe. "I'm Uchiha Obito, ten years old, do remember that! I like ramen and blue and I dislike jerks and self-centered people!" Looking pleased with himself, the loudmouth sat back down on the grass, and looked at the reminding member of the team.

Rin and Minato followed his example, but Kakashi did not yield from his stare-contest with a blade of grass between his feet. The blond nudged him and the youngest member of the team sighed soundlessly. He reached into his kunai holster and pulled out a small notebook. Without opening it, he showed the cover to the other youngsters.

'_KAKASHI' _Was written in black, bold letters over the thin white cardboard.

They both stared, Rin with a smile and the Uchiha with a frown.

"What, can't you just say it?" The boy asked, earning a glare from the younger boy who then looked it their teacher almost as if saying 'I told you so'.

Minato was quick to intervene before the glare match that had begun became a quarrel. "Ah, no, Obito-kun. See, Kakashi here is mute. Don't worry, though, we'll teach you how we can communicate even in missions."

It was easy to notice the blush of embarrassment even with those ridiculous orange goggles covering the male genin's eyes. "Oh." He tried to meet the youngest's eyes, but they were clearly evading him. "Sorry."

The blond cleared his throat "Well, just to make his quicker, Kakashi is eight, a chuunin, and he… well … He likes dogs, I guess. He's allergic to cats so I assume he doesn't like them. And he told me once that his dream for the future was for me to stop babying him." He grinned, hopping to have lightened the mood (even if what he said_ was_ the truth). For the most part he seemed to have succeeded, but Kakashi's small fists tightened up as the boy glared at him.

Choosing to ignore this particular side-effect, Minato stood and dusted invisible dirt from his trousers. He informed the children they would be going to Ichiraku's to have dinner. The effect was immediate: two thirds of his team jumped to their feet and almost began pulling him to the stand while the other third caught up with them unenthusiastically.

As they walked, Obito lagged to attempt and apologize once again, an action fondly observed by the team leader. The older boy was about to open his mouth when he noticed something particularly odd. "Why d' ya have a red cloth in your weapons' pouch?" The Uchiha reached over, but had his hand slapped away by Kakashi.

The grey-haired child glared at the taller ninja and walked over to where Rin and Minato had stopped to wait for them. He didn't miss the "jerk" directed to him, but decided to just keep on walking.

Arriving at the stand, the jounin was quick to, quite unnecessarily, help all of his students to the high stools and allowed everyone to order before ordering a miso ramen for himself before falling on a pleasant, mostly one-sided conversation with the small chuunin sitting next to him.

But Kakashi lost the man's attention soon, the jounin having been captured by Obito's rant about something or the other which was quickly joined in by Rin. Having been his turn to peak in the conversation with Minato and not knowing what else to do, the Hatake pulled out the piece of fabric his new teammate had noticed earlier and waved it by his sensei's face.

Minato interrupted himself mid-sentence to glare at him. It made Kakashi go stiff; the blond had never, _ever_ looked at him like that. The red cloth was practically yanked out of his hand, or at least it felt that way, and the eight-year-old didn't know what to do with himself. "Don't do that while I'm speaking, Kakashi."

Then the blond turned away from him again in favor of facing his two new students, and the chuunin's shoulders slumped. Not knowing if he felt angered or hurt, the boy turned his back to all three of his teammates, pushing his full bowl away and letting his hidden chin fall on the palm of his right hand.

After hearing Obito and Rin say their good-byes and leave, Kakashi went to do the same, only to be stopped by a large hand that held onto his shirt. The young chuunin looked up into his sensei's troubled eyes.

"What is it with you today? I was trying to have a conversation, you know? That was very rude."

Kakashi did shrink back a little at the scolding, but to his credit he returned the adult's angered stare. 'I'm sorry I'm not like them' He signed, glad to have had the patience of teaching the man enough sign language to have this little argument.

"What do you mean, you're not like them, Kakashi?!"

The boy yanked the fabric of his shirt of out his teacher's grasp. 'Could not even introduce myself. You wanted it to be quick. I'm sorry I'm slow to communicate.' And he turned, not willing to continue. He began walking until he heard his teacher's sigh behind him.

"Hey, I'm sorry, but it's not like you _wanted_ to communicate in the first place." There was a pause "At least take the bandana with you!"

Frowning, the boy turned so his teacher could see what he was signing. 'Don't want it anymore.' He ran to his house as fast as he could, slammed the door behind him, and laid down on the couch, promptly falling asleep.

The next morning, Kakashi woke to find himself under the covers of his own bed, the red bandana resting on his bedside table.

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So, here can see Kakashi slip into his bratty younger self.

... But still, Minato loves him in the end, doesn't he?

Anyway, as always, prompts open and stuff.

Yeah.


	4. Trust Me Like I trust You

Hey. I already had this and I wanted to upload something, so.

Thanks to:** Tyku, JaketheDog33, Copeland, Prescripto13** (I really like your username), **Quoted, Elle, **and** Prongslette94**, who reviewed!

By the way, Quoted! I don't really know any mute person, and I have only had to stay silent for one day. So if you could tell me more about your troubles or if something doesn't seem believable, do tell me about it! =D

This is a request from Prongslette94, who wanted a KakaNaru... I ended up with a close friendship rather than a relationship, but... well, I'll just make it up to you at another one .-.

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**Trust Me Like I Trust You**

_Twenty-nine years old_

For the twentieth time that evening, Hatake Kakashi told himself he was not being a moron.

He walked down the streets of Konoha in his usual jounin attire, minus the flak jacket and gloves, trying not to hurry back to his home and cross this idea as one of the worst he had had in his life. The remainder of Naruto's sad expression when three different people told him they already had someone to go to the festival with was the sheer force that kept his legs moving.

Before he even noticed he had arrived to his destination his hand was already ramming on his student's door so hard someone who didn't know him could easily confuse his muteness with deafness. Naruto's alarmed face received him moments later.

"_What_ are you doing that _for_, Kakashi-sensei?!" The cerulean orbs were wide and one of the boy's eyes was twitching.

The man smiled, seemingly unfazed by the terror he had just caused, and poked the village's forehead protector Naruto was wearing. At the questioning glance, he motioned the blond teen forward. The boy obeyed with an uncharacteristic lack of enthusiasm, closing the door behind him.

Kakashi then grabbed the blond by the wrist and began pulling him as he resumed his walk. Naruto's protests immediately attacked his ears until he stopped completely and turned to the growingly angry teen.

"Where are you taking me?"

The man pointed in the general direction the festival was being held, and he watched as Naruto turned his head until he saw the colorful lights and ornaments in the distance and put two and two together. The frown was immediate and hurtful, since the teen's face obviously wasn't designed to show such an expression.

"There?"

Kakashi showed the boy his left palm, where a 'YES' had been tattooed nine years earlier.

"Why? No one wanted to go with me."

The man sighed soundlessly and pressed a hand to his chest. When the boy obviously didn't understand him he pointed at the blond, then at himself, then back at the blond, and finally to the colorful lights in the distance.

"_You_ wanna go with me, sensei?"

Nodding, the Copy Ninja once again grabbed the boy's wrist to pull him, only to notice Naruto didn't need to be pulled anymore, since he was matching his pace as a small smile tugged at the teen's lips. In the very least, Kakashi was happy that his student was no longer giving Sasuke a run for his money on who could make the most heart-breaking expression of solitude.

And so Kakashi enjoyed the surprisingly silent walk towards Konoha's main street.

The problem was that ten minutes after they arrived at the festival, where Naruto had insisted to buy them both a cup of ramen, Akamaru, the Inuzuka boy's dog, had decided the blond teen was the best companion out of all the people around it. Which of course led to Kiba, dragging Shikamaru and Chouji behind him, trying to get the blond to bet who could eat the most out of them.

Kakashi observed the interaction with his hands tucked deep in his pockets, noting just how happier Naruto's eyes looked when the other teens approached him.

Feeling out of place, the oldest male shifted his weight from one foot to the other for five minutes before slipping away, much preferring Naruto to enjoy the time with his friends than forcing the teen to stay with someone like him the whole night.

He walked through the crowd until he got to the emptiest spot in the festival, only another person in sight, and sat down on the familiar bench his old team used to use to watch the stars after a particularly tiring or stressful mission. He rubbed his visible eye and sighed, leaning back to rest his head on the cool stone that supported his back. _Maybe I can sleep here just for today…_

Another presence interrupted his train of thought by sitting himself on the spot next to him on the bench. Kakashi opened his eye to see who it was and was surprised to find the blond Uzumaki beside him. The jinchuuriki sighed. "Why'd you leave, sensei?"

The man took out his ever-confident, tiny notebook and pen out of his pants' pocket and wrote 'You looked like you were having fun with your friends'.

Thin eyebrows furrowed, Naruto's expression morphing into one that didn't seem to belong in the tanned face. "They didn't invite me here, sensei, you did." And then proceeded to completely violate the man's personal space by resting his head on the older male's lean shoulder.

Kakashi allowed the gesture, seemingly lost in the sea of black above them.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, have you ever wished you could speak?" The man looked to the blond sitting next to him. The teen's cerulean orbs were watching him intently, a mixture of curiosity and sadness.

Dark-grey orbs turned from his student to the sky as he pondered about the question. When he was younger he would often wonder how it would be like to talk, how his own voice would sound, just how he would manage himself on the battlefield had he been born with perfectly functioning vocal cords. Would speaking make his throat tingle? But all those were 'what-if' situations, and that was not what Naruto was speaking about_… Except maybe for that one time…_

The adult raised his right hand and placed it in front of the young blond's face. Naruto read the tattooed 'NO' with confusion. Kakashi felt the weight on his shoulder disappear when the boy lifted his head, only to be replaced by a hand as the blond kneeled on the bench instead of sitting on it, facing him.

"You don't?" But Naruto's eyes were not angry or aggressive, just unbelieving.

Of course Naruto would think it was a nightmare to be mute. The boy had his volume switch stuck on loud most of the time. But the silver-haired man smiled his odd eye-smile and once again lifted his right hand, showing the teen his palm. 'NO'.

Naruto stared at Kakashi. He had _seen_ the man being alone most of the time, noticed how he often seemed to be on his own even when he was accompanied by other jounin. How the man had taken more time than usual to smile when Sai told him he could end up as a liability on their first mission together. Surely…

Well, then maybe his sensei _was_ a lonely person by nature. The sixteen-year-old truly preferred to think that, but he wasn't as innocent and clueless like everyone seemed to believe. Not anymore.

Thin arms coiled around the man's neck, and the silver-haired man tensed slightly when he felt his student's head fall on his shoulder before relaxing, the breath warming his neck through his mask soothing him in a way he had never thought possible since Minato and Kushina's deaths.

"You can tell me when something bothers you from now on, sensei. I'll help."

After a few seconds, Naruto smiled at his hair being ruffled and lifted his head from the adult's shoulder. What he met was the man's notebook, open and page filled with Kakashi's surprisingly neat handwriting.

'Same goes for you.'

Naruto grinned. The smile became mischievous almost immediately, and the teen took advantage of the man's apparently peaceful state by quickly moving to yank down his teacher's facemask, only to have his eyesight go black before he could see the least bit of skin. The blond's left hand went up to his eyes to feel what had blocked his view, his right still holding the thin black cloth.

At the contact of his fingertips with the cool metal of his forehead protector, Naruto pouted. "…I hate you, sensei."

Wheezing was the sole response, and the blond simply had to settle with a mental image of the silver-haired man laughing at him.

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See? I shall make it up in some other one because this is not a couple .-.

Thank you for reading!


	5. I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream

Hey there! I've had this chapter for almost a month .-. I was lazy =D

**Thanks to:** Prongslette94, Tyku, Prescripto13, Copeland, Lexiful Sunshine, DarkAngelJudas, Quoted, mnemosneme, and Rika24, **who reviewed! **(*hyperventilates* They're so many! THANK YOU! _THANK YOU!_)

**I have answers for some of the reviewers at the end of the chapter.**

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**I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream**

_Fourteen years old_

He watched his teacher fall off of the giant toad summon and crash as dead weight on the ground. He also watched how that demon took his soul; tying those chains around the one person he knew deserved to be as free as the wind, both in life and death. No matter how much he tried to look away, no matter how hard Gai pulled on his arm, no matter how timely Jiraiya's hands were to cover his wide eyes from the harsh truth. He still saw.

Kakashi saw it all, and now his mind replays it every second because Obito's gift to him had to be as vexing and exasperating as the boy himself at times. And Kakashi regrets the moment he opened that damn left eye, because it is becoming impossible to live with the pain of a person he loved dying over and over again.

Even if it has just been five minutes.

Even if it has just been five minutes, the youngest genin, the youngest chuunin, the youngest jounin, the youngest ANBU—all of them one sole person who doesn't care about his achievements, not now, not anymore—wants to cry and scream and tell everyone who is shooting him pitying glances and encouraging words to _shut the fuck up because they don't know what they are saying _even though deep in his heart he knows that all of them have lost something and these villagers probably understand every single one of his feelings at the moment.

And wait for the best moment he does, once the villagers and his fellow shinobi remember that he cannot talk to them and they cannot understand him, and leave him alone to deal with his turmoil of emotions just like he has done his whole life because even though he is only fourteen he is a shinobi, and therefore he is a man and a man must deal with things on his own.

Everyone leaves, with the exception of course, of Gai, who he has to shove away even though _he doesn't want to_ because he doesn't want to be alone, but he actually does, and he doesn't at the same time, and his self-proclaimed rival just makes the thought more difficult.

It isn't difficult to get away from a crowd that doesn't miss him because the last person who truly cared about him anymore is gone, has left him to fend for himself just like his father did all those years ago and only makes it so much worse.

Kakashi does not even realize where he is; just that there are a lot of trees surrounding him because he doesn't notice that he only ran to the center of the village where most of the population is crowded. He punches holes in the trees in front of him, but that isn't enough. He has to yell and scream and cry out but he can't.

Except he can, and he head-butts the enormous tree in front of him, and opens his mouth in a holler and a roar charged with so much emotion it begins to claw at his chest because it still wants to be released, so he bellows his whole despair into the night while the civilians surround the elite shinobi with awe and wonder because the only thing they see is a wounded soldier without a mask, and they cannot hear his cries.

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Canon-Jiraiya probably wouldn't have covered Kakashi's eyes, but I made that one of the changes that ocurred due to Kashi's muteness. Since Jiraiya was sort of like an uncle to the kid, he became a little more protective of him, but not enough for it to hinder Kakashi's career.

Thoughts? =O

**Rika24:** I was planning on doing one of Gai/Kakashi friendship. I will do one. Just... wait for it, because I have to think on how to present it... and practice my Gai voice a bit =P

**mnemosneme:** (Wow, your penname is hard ._.) I love angsty, so I will try to do your request.

**Copeland:** I always do my best to keep them in character, which is why I couldn't quite force the kiss my friend wanted. They would never kiss unless it was absolutely by accident. I do think, however, that Naruto can be cheesy enough to say that to Kakashi at some point =P

**Prongslette:** I shall do a one-shot just for your eyes with a not-light Kakanaru. (if anyone else want to see this, you can leave a review with your mail and I shall send it to you)


	6. Hear you Hear you not

Hi, hi wonderful, amazing readers! Well, I had this chapter written and I thought of two new ones, so I shall post it now! Yaaaaay! Also, some of you sent me ideas/prompts for new chapters. I will most likely do them, just have to think exactly (or not think about anything and just have emotion like the last chapter).**  
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Thanks a lot to: **Rook** (I had never thought about this penname, and it's awesome),** JaketheDog33**, **Prongslette94**,** Rika24**, **mnemosneme**, **Prescripto13,** **Quoted**, and **VampireDoll666 **who reviewed!

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**Hear you; Hear you not**

_Nineteen years old_

Kakashi's voice is silent. But he _is_ hearing.

This is a fact he must often repeat to his teammates during missions—had to insist on it to those two knuckleheaded teens that were grouped with him during his chuunin examination, had to remind Obito of the fact every once in a while (though he admits now that that was the older boy being his usual loud self and probably never had the thought of looking down on him for his condition go through his mind)— and now he has shoved several different ANBU to the walls of the headquarters when they say things about him or his abilities that were obviously not meant to be heard by him.

The ones who know him—or know _of_ him, rather, the only person that actually knows him that is alive and not floating about in different villages is Gai—simply stay silent and pretend they don't know their Squad Captain is playing stupid when he does not answer their questions.

Despite it all, missions are complicated. Kakashi can hear everyone. But no one can hear him. He listens patiently as the others discuss plans of action, then watches with grim satisfaction how the faces of his men, muscles of their arms and legs rippling, and shoulders stiffening; contort into anger when he erases their strategy plans from the board or the dirt at their feet to draw and explain the one which _will_ be the course of action.

The reactions disappear with time, when the other ANBU realize the Hatake brat's plans work effectively almost a hundred percent of the time, and when they not it is due to their mission statement being incorrect since the very start. When they notice he appears every time they are having trouble. When they realize he can hear better than themselves, because the young man does not only hear the physical, but also the abstract and emotional. Even when he doesn't admit it.

So when Hatake Kakashi's team fails for the first time and the council is ready to blame it on him, the youngest ANBU, masked as a raven, can only mutter that they are idiots.

From the other side of the room, Wolf looks over and nods as if to recognize the accuracy of the younger's statement.

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Thoughts? Honestly, I like the last one better. Had so much emotion that everything in this chapter looked bland to me. What do you guys think?

Theeeeeeere! I'm totally in class and not listening to the teacher. Well, I am actually listening. Bet I can repeat everything he just said. Kids, do not copy my example. Look at your teachers when they are talking.


	7. Beast of Burden

This... was not supposed to come out today. But see, I'm drowning in homework, so naturally, I did this instead.

Special thanks to: **VampireDoll666**, **Prescripto13**, and **Quoted** who left lovely, lovely, lovely reviews!

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**007. Beast of Burden**  
_Sixteen years old_

Team missions rarely came his way until he was in ANBU. After his first teammate died, the council began having his doubts, and no matter how much the Third and eventually the Fourth argued, the elders held themselves firm in their resolution to destitute Kakashi from all team-based missions.

They were scared, they said; feared for the lives of many young shinobi the White Fang's son would put in danger.

Rin was a bit bitter after that.

She refused to perform hospital duty and stubbornly stood her ground when she was chucked back into field duty. _'I will not go on the mission without him'_. The council agreed when the girl growled at them like an animal, scaring even the teacher of the teacher of her teacher out of his wits.

The mission had been going great, just a wound to the leg and a few scratches on their arms. Rin could communicate with Kakashi on a certain level, understood all of his battle and cautionary signals, and the boy trusted her enough to watch his back while he kept an eye on the road ahead.

That is, until Rin decided to play a little and annoy her younger teammate a bit.

For more that he tried to catch up to her, Kakashi couldn't quite bring his injured leg to move the way he wanted to, and Rin, in her haste to win their little race back to Konoha, did not see the red cloth attached to the kunai that flew past her until it was too late. Didn't see it until Kakashi had to pull down his mask and whistle in a desperate attempt to warn her.

Mist ninja are difficult to deal with, and Hatake Kakashi learned this fact the hard way. Illusions were more than deceptive when one had a Sharingan that was in control of its owner rather than the other way around, and Rin's stubbornness to fight when told otherwise did not help concentration.

Kakashi was completely lost in the sea of enemies attempting to take him out, even though he tried to feel around for Rin's chakra signature when he heard the adult shinobi yell at each other instructions to capture the medic nin. His breath hitched, slashing with a kunai at the clones almost climbing over him.

_There!_

The boy turned to the man standing behind him, hand chirping with the cackling of a thousand birds, and drove his hand through the enemy's chest. It was only when he heard the growl beside him that the illusion disappeared, the tall, red-headed man replaced by Rin's surprised face.

"_Ka…Ka…Shi…"_

His heart fell to the pitch of his stomach, immediately feeling his blood freeze. Later, the young man would swear he heard Obito's enraged cry at his unintended treason, his broken promise, but now, he could only feel an agonizing terror as his world faded to black.

He woke once briefly on the way to the village, cradled in the arms of Jiraiya who refused to tell him how he had found him. Sad eyes, the strong hand around his back and the soothing comments only served to increase his shame and regret.

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There we go.

Ugh, the mission was supposed to end nicely, actually, but then Rin went and stopped paying attention. Dammit, Rin! I'm trying to defend Kashi from the elders here!

Ehem... _NOW _I shall go and study.


End file.
